Thai food is internationally famous. Whether chili-hot or comparatively bland, harmony is the guiding principle behind each dish. Thai cuisine is essentially a marriage of centuries-old Eastern and Western influences harmoniously combined into something uniquely Thai. The characteristics of Thai food depend on who cooks it and who it’s cooked for. Thai cooking also reflects the characteristics of a waterborne lifestyle. Aquatic animals, plants and herbs are major ingredients. Large cuts of meat have been eschewed. With their Buddhist background, Thais shunned the use of large animals in big chunks. Big cuts of meat were shredded and laced with herbs and spices.

Traditional Thai cooking methods were stewing and baking or grilling. Chinese influences were responsible for the introduction of frying, stir frying and deep-frying. Culinary influences from the 17th century onwards included Portuguese, Dutch, French and Japanese. For example, chilies were introduced to Thai cooking during the late 1600s by Portuguese missionaries who had acquired a taste for them while serving in South America.

Thais were very clever at 'Siamese-ising' foreign cooking methods, and substituting ingredients. The ghee used in Indian cooking was replaced by coconut oil, and coconut milk substituted for other daily products.

Overpowering pure spices were toned down and enhanced by fresh herbs such as lemon grass and galangal. Eventually, fewer and less spices were used in Thai curries, while the use of fresh herbs increased. It is generally acknowledged that Thai curries burn intensely, but briefly, whereas other curries with strong spices burn for longer periods. Furthermore, instead of serving dishes in courses, a Thai meal is served all at once, permitting dinners to enjoy complementary combinations of different tastes.

A proper Thai meal should consist of a soup, a curry dish with condiments, and a dip with accompanying fish and vegetables. A spicy salad may replace the curry dish. The soup can also be spicy, but the curry should be replaced by non spiced items. There must be a harmony of tastes and textures within individual dishes and the entire meal.

What types of food are available in Thailand?

Particularly in Bangkok and the major tourist center where visitors and expatriate from all over the world gather there are authentic restaurants serving specialized cuisine from all different region of the world including Japanese, Chinese, Italian, Mexican, Indian, Lebanese, German, and even Russian.

Thai cuisine is found all over in Thailand although there are some wonderful regional specialties and differences in preparing certain dishes. Naturally the beaches and islands are the best places to get fresh seafood, often grilled and served upon the beach. Other favorite dishes include the following:

The green curry (gaeng kieow wan) usually includes poultry or fish and both a hot curry (kaeng phet), and a milder version (kaeng phanaeng) are all based on coconut milk. Also very popular with Thai’s and visitors alike are Tom Yam, the famous hot and sour soup, and Tom Kha Gai, a creamy coconut milk soup made with chicken. Yam, the tangy salads, is an invention from central Thailand. Haw mok, little banana leaf cups filled with a souffl.-like mix made from red curry paste, egg and coconut milk with seafood added are a popular snack item. Phat pet is a stir-fry with basil and curry paste. Som tam, the spicy green papaya salad is a highly popular dish in the Northeast. Khao soi, a curry broth with egg noodles and chicken, pork or beef is a northern specialty, particularly in Chiang Mai; Khanom chin nam yaa is soft thin rice noodles with pork rib, tomatoes and black bean sauce.

What's special about Thai food?

Thai food offers a variety of flavors and tastes. The subtle mixing of herbs and spices and market-fresh ingredients makes dining a special culinary experience.

Eating ranks high on the Thai scale of pleasures although meals are informal affairs. The staple is rice, either ordinary or glutinous, accompanied by a variety of dishes that can be eaten in almost any order, and seasoned to individual taste with several condiments such as fish sauce and chili peppers. Most often there will be a soup of some kind, a curry, a steamed or fried dish, a salad, and one or more basic sauces. Desserts may consist of fresh fruit or one of the many traditional Thai sweets.

How should Foreigners Greet Thai people?

Hello (Male speaker): Sawasdee Krup, Hello (Female speaker): Sawasdee Kaa. As Thais do not generally shake hands, foreigners can follow a simplified, albeit not technically exact, rule of returning the wai of anyone who wais them by pressing their hands together beneath their chin and slightly nodding their heads. In general the person of lower status should wai first, but foreigners are generally forgiven for not understanding the nuances of Thai greetings.

I would like to learn Thai Cooking?Are there any intensive cooking courses?

Many major hotels that have their own in-house Thai restaurant will offer cooking classes, either as intensive hands-on sessions or as watch-and-eat events. In addition there are cooking schools that provide basic skills sufficient to prepare a Thai meal in your own home, or even training to professional standards.

Increasingly, people take Thai language lessons for business and educational purposes, or simply to integrate a short language course into their stay in the country for fun. As a result, a number of commercial Thai language centers catering to expatriates and visitors have emerged to give people an insight into the language. Recommended schools include AUA Language center, Chulalongkorn University, and the Nisa Language School, which combines activities such as cooking classes into their language program.

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